I don't dream. I know, weird. It's just an endless empty space. Which is actually kinda nice! I can think about stuff here.

Even if it doesn't always work out properly, or if I can't remember much.

Though... Right now I can't really focus on anything. Just... Vaguely on edge. Inherited my anxiety then-

===

"...up, c'mon now." I blink, and sit up slowly.

Calisi pats my shoulder as I yawn slightly, putting on my gas mask. A quick glance around shows everyone else did too. Some are making another check of weapons and gear, others are praying quietly.

"Alright people, listen up." The Serveir's voice cuts through, as the smaller conversations stop.

"If any of you forgot, here's the lowdown. We're digging in at St Tyra, and we're going to kill every Commie bastard that we see. For our part, we're going to be deploying in the industrial sector and taking up positions."

He takes a breath. "Combat engineers will drop by shortly to get us some more cover, artillery is due in five minutes, maybe eight. Any questions?"

Andaro glances over to our squad leader. "And if we come into contact before that?"

"Wax the fuckers, mount back up if we dismount, come in fashionably late," he responds. There's a few laughs, and then no more questions.

"Alright, it looks like we're clear on that then?"

The intercom crackles. "Squad, prepare to dismount, thirty seconds."

"Lancer Two, cover Lancer One. Keep the Reservist over there alive, if you can. Reservist, you're now One-Four."

Andaro grins. "Aye sir. No guarantees though."

THUMP! Something impacts close enough to shake the vehicle.THUMP! Another one, and now everyone looks up. "Mortars?"

The autocannon and more explosions drown out whatever he was saying. BAKBAKBAKBAKBAKTHUMPBAKBAKTHUMP!

Light and sound stream into the vehicle as the rear door opens, other IFVs behind us firing against something in the distance-

BLAKAM! One of the other vehicles takes a direct hit to the hull and seems to vaporize.

"-GO, GO! COME ON ANDARO!" I grit my teeth and follow the team leader out into the fire.

We're in a massive lot, surrounded by buildings, with high rises in the distance. Thankfully, a few dozen cars and trucks, long abandoned, give some semblance of cover-

swooooo-KRLKAM! One of the cars goes flying at least ten meters as something flies overhead and explodes, throwing it like a toy-

'FUCK!' I dive into cover behind an overturned semi truck and catch my breath, glancing around-

'Andaro, Andaro... There.'

I fumble a smoke grenade from my webbing and toss it into the gap between the truck and a couple piled up cars. Slowly, the light gray cloud rolls across the gap. A quick few bursts of rifle fire zip through it, but then...

'GO!' I dash across the gap, and stumble into cover in the other side.

"...yloki! Good to see you're not dead!" A hand pats me on the shoulder. Garcia again.

'So he's the squad medic? Huh.'

"Y-yeah...! Where's Andaro?!" THUMP!

More explosions shake the ground. None too close by thankfully. The riflewoman next to him glances to me. "Andaro's over further! He's trying to organize a quick breach into that building complex so we can get out of this-"

BOOM! Something hits the ground near the truck, bits of metal and asphalt fly into the air.

"Thank you!" Thankfully, I don't have to cross open terrain to get there. As I get closer, I see the security door of the building open, and someone toss a grenade in-

"...OVE MOVE MOVE!" The grenade explodes, and on it's heels is Lancer One. I don't quite catch them before the third man makes it through-

BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM! Gunfire thunders out from the door, amplified by the building's interior.

'Oh boy. Here we go.' I turn the corner, rifle up. Inside is some sort of small lobby for whatever the hell this used to be. A hotel? Some dead Emayans, and broken tables. Our machinegunner fires in long bursts across the ruined remains of it, drowning out practically everything else-

BAMBAMBAMBAM!

"-AIN, PUSH UP!"

BAMBAMBAMBAMBAM! I brace up against one of the walls and try to put shots vaguely accurately downrange, looking carefully through my scope.

'Come on, come on!' A Ramayan helmet pops up in the hallway leading to the lobby-

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

BANG! -and falls back down, now with a hole punched into its brow.

The machinegunner pauses to shout at me, not turning around. "NYLOKI, GO!"

BAMBAMBAMBAMBAM! I hesitate for a second... and go to join the other two.

"...where is-oh!" Andaro sighs.

"S-sorry, I-"

"Doesn't matter, you're here now. Come on! LANCER ONE! We're pushing through that hall! One Three, take point, One Four, you're behind me."

"Affirm." The woman takes up point, rifle up. Andaro unclips a grenade, and quickly throws it around the corner. A few seconds of silence...

THUMP! A wave of dust rushes out of the hallway, and we push in-

BANG BANG!

"Killed one! Side clear!"

"Side clear!" The two ahead of me turn to cover each other, leaving me looking down the room.

Someone pops up from behind a desk, the flecked battle camouflage marking him as Emayan-

There isn't time to aim, just shoot-

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG! The rifle shudders in my grip at rock-'n'-roll speed as I walk the bullets onto him, but he fires too-

BRUDDABRUDDABRUDDACrack!

I flinch from the near miss as red spots appear all over him and he falls backwards, rifle spraying into the ceiling to empty.

"...hah... Haah..." I walk over, rifle shouldered, and shoot him in the face for good measure.

"Hey, Nyloki." Andaro's voice pulls me around.

"Y-yessir?"

He gestures to his left ear... "You caught a graze."

"...wha...?" I reach up and my ear stings to the touch. The soldier at the other end of the room calls back, amused. "I'm watching the door. You two cats can lick each other or whatever. Make it quick though."

Andaro shakes his head, though he sounds vaguely playful. "Better to keep pace. Nyloki, can you handle yourself?"

"Y-yessir."

From behind us, a shout- "Lancer Two, coming in!"

Andaro glances out the door as I step into a corner. 'Gauze, ointment...'

The rest of the squad arrives, including our squad leader, machine gunner and medic. "We're pushing through that door to whatever that fucking AT position is! Andaro, you with us?"

"Aye Serv-"

Thoom! The windows in the room behind us are briefly bright, as all of them shatter and a wind rushes through. My dosimeter clicks up a little.

"Wordbreaker...!" Andaro shoves the door shut behind us as best he can

I bind up my latest scratch and get my helmet back on-

THOOM! The building shakes a little as another sun burns away some part of the world.

Grantya claps and points to the door. "Alright, Lancer squad, let's get moving! Faster we do this the shorter time we spend in this shitshow!"

"Aye Servier! Lancer One!" Andaro forms up behind the person holding the door-

"Frag out!" She cracks it open, he throws one through, she closes it-

BruddaPakbruddaPakbruddaPak! A few bullets punch through the door as gunfire thunders in the room beyond.

THUMP! Dust jolts off the ceiling.

"GO GO GO!" Our squad pushes forward into a... Now dimly lit, dusty hallway with a few stairs and many doorways.

"Get those doors, peel off into the nearest one and clear quick!" So far, so good. We flow through doors, I hear a brief burst from one room and then a shout of CLEAR! before-

Suddenly, I'm in the lead, we're near the end of the hall, and there's a man stepping out from behind a wall.

'SHOOT YOU IDIOT!'

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG-

Again, full auto. He falls over, jerking and twisting, helmet flying off, face disappearing into red-

Thoom! Another yellow flash bathes the room behind the hallway in front of me with yellow. More glass breaking, but also the building shudders.

'That's a little close, isn't it?! Who the fuck is shooting from the hip back there with atomics?!'

"Circle below...! Is that friendly or enemy bombing us?!"

"No idea, keep going!" I wish I could nod. Instead my neck feels like it's made of stone. An object flying-

"GRENADE!" Suddenly my boots carry me through an open doorway, my hands opening the door-

DOOM! My ears are ringing...

'The enemy. Rifle. Rifle!'

Hands find grip and handguard, raising it to shoulder and leaning out, firing at the first tan and green figure I see-

BANGBANGBANG - click.

"Shit!" Ducking back in, fumbling a clip from my webbing, slamming it home and yanking the charging handle, feeling far, far too slow-

DOOM! Another grenade, and then the full thudding of something big-

"Motherfucker-" I yelp as something slips past my cheek and it puffs into a dull pain.

'This isn't safe, and who knows how bulletproof this cover is? Move!'

I scuttle further into the dark, lit only by a shattered skylight, glancing around for maybe a door, leading further?

'This is a shopping center, apparently.' Racks of clothes. Now that I think about it, I remember storefronts back there. And maybe that lobby had been a massage store or something?

'Focus. Door?' I kick open a few of them. One leads into a maintenance hallway...

...

Nobody home. Quickly, under the cover of gunfire. I curse the concrete floor as every step sounds like it's own gunshot. Slowing, I try the service door for the store two doors down. Poke in carefully, rifle in one hand. In the distance, protected by the dark I see three Emayan soldiers advancing in their trio, another posted in the storefront window.

'...Feyana see me through this please.' I brace up, and open fire.

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG! The rifle is noisy, muzzle flash ruining my night vision, but I don't need it to see the four soldiers, all silhouetted by the light, falling over.

I put a quick second burst into the one still moving and duck back, as I hear footsteps and then the door of the next store opens-

BANGBUDDABANGBUDDABANGBANGBANG- The one coming through pulls the trigger too early, and I drill him with rounds, the one behind him apparently carrying forward on momentum-

BANGBANGBUDDABANG click. The last bullet pulls him to the floor-

"Fuck!" I take a breath, ducking-falling, into another room, kicking the door shut behind me, dragging myself upright, shoving a new clip into the gun-

'Focus! You're okay! Concealed at least, maybe this desk is metal and it's bulletproof enough to save you!'

Pain finally reaches up from my upper arm...

'...I didn't get hit, did I?' Touch it, come back, hold it up to the light a little.

Blood. Not much more than a flesh wound, it's more than a graze but less than a hole. Hard to tell in this light, this store doesn't have a skylight, just shattered windows.

'Gauze. I-I need gauze.' The adrenaline is wearing off, there might be someone coming through the door in a second-

'FOCUS!' I force myself to take a breath, fish antiseptic spray and gauze from somewhere-

Gunfire echoes down the hall, it sounds like we're winning.

"...stings less than it does usually..." It still fucking burns!

I snap the cap back on the spray and wind some gauze around my new scar-to-be, put both back into a pouch, then...

DOOM! Bruddabangbangbrudda- The gunfire keeps echoing into the room. I probably need to move...!

'Hey, a foldable chair. Maybe I can just...' I carefully take it and wedge it up under the doorknob, wincing as my upper arm complains.

Then... Slowly, I step across the back wall, facing the storefront.

BangbangbangbruddaTHOOM!

The world shakes, but it's all background noise now, I blink the light-spots from my eyes and push on. To my left are friendlies, to my right, maybe the enemy. Slowly find an angle...

My sights settle on a Renkap soldier. I put the crosshair over the side of his head-

THOOM-! My hearing whites out.

I feel something strike me heavily across the back, and I fall against the floor-

Darkness.